A magazine, when used association with a firearm, refers to an apparatus that holds ammunition cartridges and feeds them, one by one, automatically into the chamber of the firearm (e.g., a semi-automatic pistol or rifle). Often a magazine may be easily removable from the firearm for reloading and may insert into the grip of a pistol or adjacent to the firing mechanism of a rifle. Semiautomatic and fully automatic firearms such as pistols and submachine guns typically utilize a conventional magazine employing a columnar feeding arrangement to store and supply cartridges to the action of the firearm. Typically, a receptacle or cavity formed in the firearm (e.g., a pistol grip) is configured to receive such a conventional magazine. However, as known in the art, other conventional magazines store ammunition cartridges arranged in two staggered columns (i.e., one above the other) or in a double-column arrangement.
For convenience, a gun user may want to be able to shoot as many ammunition rounds or cartridges as possible before replacing or reloading an empty magazine. Therefore, a gun user may generally prefer a magazine that will hold a greater number of ammunition cartridges. Further, a combat shooter may have an imperative need to increase the number of rounds that can be fired without reloading. A conventional linear or columnar magazine, however, has certain inherent limitations as to the number of ammunition cartridges that can be stored and dependably fed to firearm and such conventional magazines may also be limited relative to their overall size and shape. In addition, conventional, so-called “drum magazines” are known in the art. One example of a conventional drum magazine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,131,412 to Ostman. Such conventional drum magazines may also be limited relative to their overall size, shape, and configuration.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide methods, apparatuses, and systems for feeding ammunition cartridges into a firearm which provide advantages over the conventional methods, apparatuses, and systems.